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The ghost of Charles B. Rosna
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The preserved cellar of the Fox cottage
The date of March 31,1848 is universally considered the day the spiritualist movement began.
It was on that day when the two young Fox sister's began communicating with what they would later claim, was the spirit of a dead man, who had been murdered and buried in the cellar of their house. After devising a code comprised of snapping their fingers in reponse to 'rapping' sounds they heard throughout the house, the Fox sister's eventually ascertained that the source of the noises was a man by the name of, Charles B. Rosna, a peddler from Genesee County.
Rumors of this event spread far and wide and within days an enterprising Canandaigua attorney by the name of, E.E. Lewis, subsequently visited Hydesville in order to investigate the claims of the sisters. He commenced to interview neighbors, former tenants of the farmhouse and members of the Fox family. The results of his investigation were eventually published in late May 1848 in a pamphlet titled, "A Report of the Mysterious Noises heard in the House of John D. Fox, in Hydesville, Arcadia, Wayne County. The following are the results of that investigation:
According to Lewis, a man by the name of Michael Weeks, had rented the Fox cottage the year before the Fox family arrived in Hydesville. Allmost immediately he began hearing strange noises, as if someone was knocking on the walls of the cellar. One night, according to Weeks, just before evening prayers, he heard someone knocking on the front door. When he opened the door, "no one was there". The next night, at exactly the same time, he heard someone knocking on the front door again, and when he went to open it, again, "no one was there". Weeks soon moved out of the house.
But perhaps the most intriguing testimony belonged to Lucretia Pulver, a nineteen year old domestic who lived with the Bell family. The Bell's had occupied the cottage a year before Mr. Weeks moved in. According to Ms. Pulver, one afternoon a man appeared at the Bell house. He was carrying a peddlers trunk and was offering cloth, thimbles, thread and other various goods. It was Ms. Pulver's impression that Mrs. Bell and the peddler 'knew' each other. The following day Mrs. Bell informed Lucretia that her services were no longer needed and she was terminated. Before she left, Lucretia asked the peddler to visit her father's house who she thought, would probably be interested in some of his goods. According to Ms. Pulver, "I allways thought it strange that he never showed up" ? At the time, what also struck Ms. Pulver as unusual was that on the following day there wasn't any sign of the peddler, yet several of his items were about the house, including his trunk".
Several days later Lucretia happened to run into Mrs. Bell who told her that she would like to have Lucretia return to her employ. Lucretia was more than happy as she needed the money. A few days later as Lucretia was cleaning the main bedroom, she looked up and suddenly saw a man. "He was wearing a black-frocked coat, a black hat and gray slacks, just like the peddler wore". She immediately ran to get Mrs. Bell who was in the kitchen at the time, but when they returned, "the man was gone".
Postcript
Officially, no one by the name of Charles B. Rosna, was ever proven to have lived in the Genesee or Wayne County areas. It wouldn't be until nearly 50 years later that a shocking discovery would be made in the old Fox cottage that would challenge the very concept of life and death itself and solve the mystery of , what actually happened to Charles B. Rosna !
For more information on the ghost of Charles B. Rosna and the Fox sisters story, visit www.ad-hoc-productions.com/trailers.html
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